BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom, June 2, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – UK police have refused to apologise for the actions of a Muslim community support officer, who threatened to arrest two Christian ministers for “hate crimes,” because they were preaching Christianity in a Muslim area according to British media reports.

Christian ministers Arthur Cunningham, 48, and Joseph Abraham, 65, were handing out leaflets and speaking with four Muslim youths about Christianity in Birmingham on February 19, when Naeem Naguthney, 30, a Muslim police community support officer (PCSO) told them to cease-and-desist from preaching to Muslims…

When he left, Naguthney made clear that the preachers could not count on the police for their safety.

“You have been warned. If you come back here and get beaten up, well you have been warned,” he said.

“I am dumfounded that the police seem so nonchalant,” Cunningham told the Daily Mail. “They seem content not to make it clear that what we were doing was perfectly legal. This is a free country and to suggest we were guilty of a hate crime for spreading God’s word is outrageous.”…

The Baptist ministers, represented by the UK Christian Institute, have launched a legal action against West Midlands Police, saying their treatment violated articles 9 and 10 of the 1998 Human Rights Act, which guarantees freedom of religious expression. They have asked for an apology and compensation.

West Midlands Police has refused to apologise and instead claimed the incident had been “fully investigated,” and Naguthney would be given training in understanding hate crime and communication…